A
Boeing 777-200 passenger plane, operating Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, crashed
in the Ukraine, east of Donetsk. All 298 on board are feared dead. The Ukraine
Interior Ministry Adviser stated that the airplane was shot down. Flight MH17
departed the gate at Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport, the Netherlands at 12:14
hours local time, bound for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was airborne at 12:30
(10:30 UTC) from runway 36C and reached a cruising altitude of FL310 at 12:53
(10:53 UTC). Ninety minutes into the flight, at 12:01 UTC and just prior to
entering Ukrainian airspace, the flight climbed to FL330. This altitude was
maintained until last contact by ADS-B receivers of flight tracking websites,
about 13:21 UTC.